Taken from “VINTAGE MENSWEAR” by Josh Sims, Roy Luckett & Douglas Gunn.
Made in Britain in the fifties, this SMOCK was born most likely interest to hiking and holidays in the midst of nature in the postwar years, when it was still rare to travel abroad and austerity measures made it even more unlikely. Signed THOR (such as the Nordic divinity linked to storms, the oaks and fertility) is a jacket ventile (woven cotton fabric in thick, made from long staple cotton, which offered risulati excellent for its time in terms of impermeability air and wind and in contact with water, the plot expanded, closing all the gaps) covered by a light wax to make it more waterproof. The form is that of the traditional Inuit anorak, a short leather jacket caribou or seal treated with fish oil with hood and close-fitting at the waist and wrists, which he pulled from his head and had the function of protecting from ‘humidity and the effect of windchill arctic plains.
Modern example is our Oi Polloi x Norse Projects Kaare Smock Jacket.